The Wall Street Journal recently published an article that provides additional details of last year’s sting operation against Google AdWords. The federal investigation, which alleged that Google was aware of online pharmacies illegally selling drugs such as Steroids, HGH, Oxycontin, and Ritalin to individuals without prescriptions, used a convicted felon by the name of David …
Earlier this afternoon, Google announced plans to begin tracking users across e-mail, YouTube, Google+, search, and almost all of the other Google products. The change, which combines 70 privacy documents into one, will go into effect on March 1st. Since the new privacy policy will collect large amounts of personal data across multiple Google properties …
With the ongoing battle related to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), antitrust allegations, privacy concerns, and acquisitions and mergers, Google has been steadily increasing the funds allocated to federal lobbying. According to the mandatory filings with the Lobbying Disclosure Act Database, Google spent $9.68 million during 2011 lobbying federal lawmakers. This number, which marks …
When Google’s new search feature “Search Plus” started favoring Google+ results several weeks ago, the change was immediately resisted by competing social networks like Twitter and Facebook. In addition to receiving negative publicity regarding the new Search Plus feature, an ongoing FTC investigation was expanded to further research the potential antitrust and privacy concerns of the …
Yesterday, Twitter announced that they are acquiring the Vancouver-based social new aggregator Summify. Summify, which was founded in late 2009 as ReadFu, summarizes the stories that are shared on the popular social networks and other news sites. Summify quickly sorts through the hundreds of stories that are shared across a user’s network, identifies the most …
Yesterday, there was a 24-hour Internet blackout and widespread protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) before the House and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) before the Senate. The unprecedented protest of these two bills had the full support of Wikipedia, Google, Facebook, and countless other influential websites, businesses, and individuals. Wikipedia provided users …
In the past week, Google has profited from the sale of illegal and fraudulent Olympic tickets, launched a the new Search Plus feature that resulted in EPIC filing a complaint against them, admitted to using a competitor’s database in an unethical manner, and is now the object of an expanded FTC investigation. As if these …
In less than ten hours, Wikipedia will begin a blackout to the English-language Wikipedia. The blackout, which begins at 12:00 AM (EST) tomorrow and will last 24 hours, is a public protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). Here are five great alternatives to Wikipedia to use during the …
Since Google launched Search Plus last Tuesday, the search giant has been publicly criticized by bloggers and privacy advocates. On the 12th, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) requested that the FTC investigate Google. The complaint alleged that Google’s new Search Plus feature violated users’ privacy and showed favoritism toward Google products. The new Search …
Mocality, a Kenyan company that maintains an online directory and provides services for 170,000 businesses, recently accused Google of using their database in an unethical manner. The blog post, which was written by the Mocality CEO Stefan Magdalinksi, said that Google contacted their customers without permission, falsely made claims of a business relationship, and made …
